BlueShellTurtle

Using a budget calculator is probably a regular entry on New Year’s resolution lists, but if you’re anything like me, such a well-intentioned promise goes right out the window the minute you hit the sales.  Besides, updating a program like this on a desktop machine takes too much time/may intrude on those precious moments logging your car’s fuel consumption, so to make a budget calculator a truly viable option for the money-minded, it needs to be mobile. Here then, is myExpenses (iTunes link), a personal finance management app on the iPhone.  You start off with a figure in your chosen currency – be it your income or a specific amount set aside for the week for example – then subtract expenses, each of which can be labelled, as you go along.  The data can then be analyzed in the form of a line graph or a handy pie-chart, showing you where you spent the most, or least, amount of money and viewable in day, week, month or year form.  Finally, there is a history option so you can compare with previous months. On opening myExpenses you’re greeted with your current balance remaining, a list of what you’ve spent money on so far and two big buttons, one for adding funds and the other for spending funds.  For everyday tasks, this is all you’ll need to see, and adding or subtracting money is also a breeze, with only the need to enter in the amount and a category before pressing Save.  There are several pre-loaded categories – encompassing investments to shoes – but you can add your own custom ones too. That’s really all there is too myExpenses, as the developers have chosen not to allow the inclusion of any sensitive data, although there is a lock option to protect the app, or complicate the interface with superfluous options; you just start up, pop in your incoming/outgoings and that’s it! If you want to to go deeper though, then myExpenses has the option to export its data to Excel, OpenOffice or Quicken or via email, allowing it to work with your existing management software. For each transaction you can add some notes and a photo, so if receipts are important, myExpenses has you covered. Because it’s so easy to use and takes almost no time at all to add in your spending, it’s likely to be used by even the most anti-budget Read More